


"Sweet Music" Playing "In The Dark"

by 21angryfrogs



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Other, ashes smokes so thats a warning, fireflies are cool, i think they deserve more fics together, i'm making a lot of assumptions about malone and new texas in this one gays, let! jonny! and! ashes! be! soft!!!, pet names in spanish and irish, they're just going on a date!, this is just pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:41:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27507022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/21angryfrogs/pseuds/21angryfrogs
Summary: Jonny and Ashes go on a date. Thats it thats the fic.
Relationships: Jonny d'Ville/Ashes O'Reilly, referenced polymechs
Comments: 3
Kudos: 64





	"Sweet Music" Playing "In The Dark"

“Why, I don’t know what’s so hard to understand!” A woman’s shrill voice cut through the air, “We’ve come here plenty of times before, and we’ve never received such treatment!”

The hostess rubbed at her temple as she spoke, clutching a pile of menus in the other hand. “And I have told you, a reservation is required for priority seating.”

The woman had been standing at the hostess' table for a good half hour by now, not having budged in all that time. She took a deep breath in, likely to start up another statement about how terribly she was being treated when a short man pushed his way through the crowd. He quickly shoved her to the side and took her place in front of the greeting table. He was followed by a taller person, their hands in their pockets and a lit cigarette lying between their lips. The woman gasped at the push, turning to the man and launching into another speech. He didn’t seem to hear her, only turning to his companion and holding out his hand, in which they placed a large coin purse. He grinned, turning back to the hostess' table and opening it, turning it over and letting the contents spill out onto the table. What the coin purse had contained just so happened to be almost one hundred gold coins. The woman’s mouth snapped shut as she watched the coins tumble out, the hostess watching in silence as the table was quickly filled with shining gold. 

“That’s ‘bout a thousand dollars, I’d say.” The man spoke, leaning on the table with a mad grin on his face.

“Two hundred thousand.” His companion corrected.

“Thank you, mi chispa, that’s ‘bout two hundred thousand dollars, I’d say. Dunno ‘bout you...” he leaned forward, squinting at her nametag, “...Miss Davis, but I think earning that much money would excuse any actions you may take in this building. Like, say… Punching some entitled old bitch in the nose.” He turned to the woman as he said this, still staring in awe at the pile of coins. 

Davis paused for a moment, eyes moving between the man, the coins, and the woman. The person accompanying the man let out a sigh, pulling out a smaller bag and tossing it to her. “A tip. For the judge, if she tries to sue.”

She stared down at the pouch, mental gears turning. After a moment, Davis looked up and smiled, placing it with the other gold and rolling up her sleeves. “I believe we have a table for two open in the back if you two would follow me.”

“Oh, of course, she’s taking a bribe! I have never seen such unprofessional behavior from such a high-class establishment! Your supervisor will be hearing about this-”

Before the woman could finish her sentence, Davis used the heel of her palm to hit her straight on in the nose. She smiled and shook her wrist out as she heard a cackle and a whistle come from the two who had paid her. The woman stumbled back, clutching her now bleeding nose and blinking tears from her eyes. The previously indifferent waiting room was now dead silent, watching the movements of the four. The taller of the two newcomers turned to face the room, clapping their hands together to gather attention before removing the cigarette from their mouth and speaking.

“I’d run if I were you all,” They tapped their cigarette idly, allowing its ashes to spill onto the carpet, “Who knows what she’ll do now that your money doesn’t matter to her.”

Their partner let out another howl of laughter as the groups ran for the door.

\---

“How was I supposed to know they’d refuse to serve us!” Jonny whined, leaning on Ashes’ shoulder. Soon after getting the room to clear, Ashes had ushered both the hostess and Jonny from the building as security took notice of the commotion. They had found a park a few blocks away from where they’d settled on a bench, lit by a streetlight hanging overhead.

“Can’t bribe everyone.” Ashes shrugged, wrapping an arm around Jonny’s shoulders and pulling him closer to them. “Least we were able to get some fun out of the whole thing.”

Jonny snickered, leaning into Ashes’ warmth. “The look on that fucker’s face! She really didn’t think she’d punch her!”

Ashes laughed a little at that, dropping their finished cigarette to the ground and grinding it under their boot. Neither of them had planned on the date going in the way it did, but Jonny couldn’t be happier with the turn of events. He sighed and closed his eyes, letting himself relax into his partner. It was a beautiful night overall: warm and thick, like the kind Jonny had grown up with. He could hear the crickets and cicadas chirping in the surrounding trees and bushes. 

He felt Ashes’ tense up beneath him and opened his eyes, looking up at them. They were staring straight ahead and into the grassy field just beyond them. Jonny followed their gaze and grinned, seeing fireflies begin to float up from the grass. It really felt like a night on New Texas now, minus the drought.

“The fuck are those?” He heard Ashes mumble above him.

“What?” He double-checked he was following their gaze right, “Have you seriously not seen a firefly before?”

They turned to glare at him and he laughed, standing up and walking over to the source of the bugs. Crouching down, he cupped his hands around one perched on a blade of grass. He stood, careful not to squish it in his hands, and walked back to his partner. Slowly and carefully, he opened his hands, allowing Ashes a good look at the firefly. They leaned forward, squinting at it and nearly jumping when it fluttered its wings. Jonny laughed, his movements startling the bug enough to send it flying up and away from the pair.

“Firefly, you said?” They watched the bugs as they flew, gaze flicking between them as some lights flickered on and off.

“Yeah, cool lil’ fuckers, huh? Had ‘em back home. Used to collect ‘em in jars to make lil’ lanterns. ‘M sure Raph knows more ‘bout ‘em then I do.” 

Ashes paused for another moment before standing up. “Show me how you catch them.”

Jonny smiled, grabbing their arm and dragging them over to the field. It took a couple of tries, but eventually, Ashes had a small glowing bug in their hands. They stared at it, watching the light dim and brighten, shivering a bit at the feeling of it walking across their skin. Jonny watched their expression turn from cautious to curious as they got a better look at the firefly, and he couldn’t help but smile.

\---

It was at that moment that Ashes turned to look at Jonny, gazing at them with a fond expression and a small smile. They felt their face heat up slightly, but hid their embarrassment with a cocky smirk.

“Like what you see there, d’Ville?”

They laughed as Jonny scrunched up his nose and turned away, face glowing with the fireflies. They stood up, walking toward him and giving him a little kick. “We should head back to the ship soon.”

He nodded and stood, leading their trek back to the Aurora. They had landed in a field in the middle of nowhere, meaning the walk to the restaurant had taken them a good while, and the walk back would take just a little longer. 

Ashes started noticing Jonny’s fatigue after about ten minutes of walking. It wasn’t much, just a stumble over his own feet, but they knew from experience that soon enough he’d be half asleep, leaning against the nearest tree. They walked a bit faster to catch up and smiled as they noticed his half-lidded sleepy eyes and the pout forming on his lips. For all the trouble he caused, Jonny could pull off cute quite well.

They stepped in front of him, blocking his path and earning a whine of complaint. They laughed and shook their head, pulling Jonny’s hand into their own and beginning to rub on the spot just between his thumb and forefinger. He whined again at the treatment, pulling his hand away weakly.

“That doesn’t work on me no more, Ashes. ‘M no kid.” 

“Weren’t a kid when I met you.” They smiled, pulling his hand back to them and rubbing their thumb in that same spot, “Never stopped it from getting you to sleep.”

Jonny grumbled something, head lolling forward and eyes slipping closed. They smiled, rubbing the spot for another moment before scooping a now completely relaxed Jonny into their arms. The trick was something they’d learned from Nastya once she trusted them. It had worked as long as Nastya had known him, and it worked now, thousands of years later. They held him bridal style, giving him a moment to adjust before starting up their walk again. With Jonny’s head buried in their neck, it was easy to hear every noise the man made. Every little grunt of complaint made them snort, and every sigh of content made their heart warm. They could tell he was easing closer to unconsciousness as those noises became less and less frequent, replaced with soft breaths and mumbled phrases. 

After about a half-hour of walking, the buildings around them were replaced with grassy plains and the Aurora came into view, sitting at the top of a nearby hill. Even with the ship so close, Ashes couldn’t bring themself to wake the sleeping first mate. Instead, they used their elbow to hit the button that sent the ramp inside slowly moving down. They moved slowly and quietly through the halls, only making noise to thank Aurora for dimming the lights and threaten crewmates who approached too loudly. At some point in their walk, Jonny’s arms had come to wrap around their neck, bringing their attention to the smile on his sleeping face. They cursed under their breath as their face once again grew hot.

Eventually, they made it to their quarters, placing Jonny in bed and taking a moment to change into some clothes more fitting for sleeping. They’d also managed to remove a few of Jonny’s belts before he’d started shifting around, which they coiled and placed on their desk. With that taken care of, they laid down next to their boyfriend, pulling him closer to them. He hummed happily in his sleep, pressing himself to the human space heater that was Ashes O’Reilly. They smiled, combing through his hair with their fingers. They paused their movements as he began to shuffle again, moving further up onto them so his head could once again bury in their shoulder.

“Love ya’, firefly.” 

Ashes didn’t move for a good while after that. At first they thought they must’ve misheard him, but that was impossible with him so close to their ear. When the polycule had begun, Jonny had made it crystal clear (through much pressure by the others in the group to be honest on his feelings) that saying he loved someone was a hard thing for him to do. Ashes had only heard him say it when his feelings became overwhelming, usually a combination of anger, frustration, and fear pushing out the words. It felt wrong to accept it when it was said in his sleep. And yet…

They resumed their petting, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “Love you too, leon beag.” They whispered into his hair. They leaned back, just far enough to press their forehead to the top of his head and let themself slip into a warm and comfortable sleep. They spent the night dreaming of those floating lights, the warm air, and the look of love on Jonny’s face in the dark.

**Author's Note:**

> I just think they deserve good things.
> 
> I hate how little non 18+ fics there are in their tag so I made my own! I don't know what else to say here except eat the rich... Thanks as always to my beta-reader, twin, and Drumbot Brian fic connoisseur Adell! Follow me on tumblr by the same username! Kudos would be appreciated but I'm not gonna simp for them. If you liked it you liked it. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! <3


End file.
